The Renewal of Early Music Performance Practice, Pedagogy, and Organ Building in the United States

Abstract

Anti-Romantic trends in early twentieth century Europe, spreading to North America by mid-century, drove an organ renewal defined by historical elements reintroduced in a modern paradigm. Fueled by factors including international study exchanges after the Second World War and recordings made on antique instruments, complementary developments in performance practice, pedagogy, and organ building brought a robust historically informed movement into mainstream American organ culture. The historically informed idealism mixed with American eclecticism to produce a new, uniquely American style: organs built for stylistic flexibility with core characteristics borrowed from specific historical models and selective use of historically informed performance techniques in the pursuit of subjective beauty.